Friday, June 17, 2011

FJA is Forrest J Ackerman. Dr. Acula. He is the man who single handedly started fandom as we know it. He was the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, my favorite magazine as a kid. I bought several issues, but rarely read them. I was too taken with the photos of Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney(s), etc. All my favorites were in there. Not to mention those breath-taking covers by Basil Gogos.

This portrait was painted in a looser style than I normally do. It's a fun, but challenging way to paint. It takes a lot of courage to leave slabs of color laying there without smoothing and blending them. It's also smaller (12"x12") than I usually paint portraits. Still, all in all a fun exercise.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I belong to a great internet group called The Universal Monster Army. It's a place for folks who appreciate the classic monsters to hang out, and I've made some wonderful friendships with a lot of folks I'll probably never meet!! The subject often strays from monsters to just about anything. We laugh together, we cry together, and we support each other.

One of the ways I've been challenged as an artist is to paint new subjects. A fellow UMA'er has suggested several characters that quite frankly I never would have portrayed otherwise. That is how this one came about. He suggested I try to paint Boris Karloff in his role as the Haunted Strangler. No one needs to twist my arm to paint Mr. Karloff!! I've probably painted him more than any other subject, and enjoy each one.

With this one I tried to loosen up a bit in the background, and just have fun painting him. I don't believe one ever quits developing as an artist, and this is one of the things that keeps me painting.

Special thanks also goes to Rahsaan Roland Kirk whose music helped me finish this when my muse had abandoned me!